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SZA reassures fans she isn’t being ‘held hostage’ by label over album release after hinting at ‘hostile’ relationship

Singer had previously said she’d ‘done all I can do’ to release follow up to 2017’s ‘Ctrl’

Isobel Lewis
Friday 21 August 2020 04:15 EDT
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SZA has joked that she isn’t being “held hostage” after hinting at a “hostile” relationship with her record label over the release of her new music.

In a since-deleted tweet shared on Wednesday (19 August) the “Drew Barrymore” singer suggested that her follow-up album to 2017’s Ctrl was being delayed by label Top Dawg Entertainment.

“At this point y’all gotta ask punch,” SZA tweeted, referencing label boss Terrence “Punch” Henderson. “I’ve done all I can do [prayer emoji].”

In response to a fan who asked whether the relationship was adverse and hostile or simply out of her hands, she wrote: “BEEN hostile.”

Fans then tweeted Henderson accusing him of not “letting an artist release her own music”, to which the label president replied: “That was a great read except you’re 100% wrong.”

SZA performing in 2019
SZA performing in 2019 (Getty Images for REVOLT)

Having deleted her initial tweets, SZA addressed her fans on Thursday (20 August) evening, saying that while her and Henderson were currently “disagreeing”, he had never “steered [her] wrong” before.

“Don’t nobody need to free me… I’m not held hostage n neither is my music,” she tweeted.

“When u don’t get somewhere by urself u can’t always make ALL the decisions by urself. And das ok. Sometimes u gotta be patient. Sometimes no is a blessing. I trust the ppl around me [sic].”

SZA’s debut studio album Ctrl was released in June 2017 to critical acclaim.

The record earned the singer and rapper five nominations at the 2018 Grammy Awards, including for Best New Artist.

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